Overview:
While some in the community support the decision to transform Park Hill Golf Course into a park, others see it as "green gentrification."
After years of lobbying, multiple elections, a regime change in Denver’s mayoral office and a land-swap deal between Westside Investment Partners and the City of Denver, the saga of the Park Hill Golf Course took yet another step towards the finish line this Monday.
This week, the Denver City Council voted to approve the rezoning of what was formerly a 155-acre, 18-hole golf course. The vote changed the park’s classification from OS-B to OS-A, formally designating it as Open Space Public Parks instead of Open Space Recreation.
With no remaining legal barriers, the land is set to open as an open space this summer, though city representative Jon Ewing stated that it would be closer to “wild space” and that the Department of Parks and Recreation is working to make the land “operational” for residents, given the short timeline.
The city is leasing the land from Westside for the mandated 90-day “due diligence” period, after which it will become the full-fledged owner and can begin long-term design and planning efforts in earnest. This will include an “Action Plan Process” through which residents can give feedback to the city about what exactly the park will offer.
Longtime Park Hill resident Kevin Marchman said he will be sure to participate in the “visioning” process when it kicks off this weekend.
“We’re all starting anew, which was mentioned several times (at Monday’s council meeting),” said Marchman, who thought the visioning process should be “collaborative. It is still an extremely sensitive issue for those in Northeast Park Hill and particularly the neighbors that surround that park. We have to stay involved; the work is not done.”
Marchman, who has lived in Northeast Park Hill since 1966 and is the head of the Northeast Park Hill Coalition, had hoped to see some of the land developed into affordable housing and shopping for residents from across the city. Park Hill has no full-service grocery stores and limited shopping centers, issues that Marchman said are regularly brought up at coalition meetings and are high priorities for residents.
“Who doesn’t want a park? Well, of course, everybody wants a park,” Marchman said. “But there are other needs as a community that remain unaddressed.”
Another Park Hill resident, Colette Carey, worked with the Save Open Space (SOS) group to ensure that the development that Marchman wanted wouldn’t happen. A neighborhood resident for the past 15 years, she is thrilled that the golf course will become a park.
“I’m over the moon, like, I have to pinch myself,” Carey said. “I can’t believe it’s actually going to happen, with a five-year fight, and here we are.”
The land swap comes after years of debate over Park Hill’s largest area of green space. Originally used as a dairy farm by the George W. Clayton College for Boys, the lot was converted into a golf course in 1930 by the city-run Clayton Trust. Fifty years later, corruption allegations forced the city to transfer ownership and management to the Clayton Foundation, which operated it as a golf course until it was sold to Westside for $24 million in 2018.
As they began planning for development, Westside and pro-development city officials tried to brush past one key historical detail: in 1997, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb placed a permanent conservation easement on the property, mandating that it remain a golf course or green space in exchange for $2 million in city funds for the Clayton Foundation.
Legally, the easement could only be overturned by Denver voters. Westside tried to sidestep this by taking the easement directly to the City Council, which caught the attention of Carey and other Park Hill residents, spurring them to establish SOS Denver. So began the battle for the hearts and minds of Park Hill residents.
One of the biggest issues on the minds of Park Hill residents throughout the process was gentrification. Initially a predominantly white neighborhood, changing economic conditions after World War II saw more Black families move from the Five Points neighborhood to Northeast Park Hill, causing a “white flight” amid realtor blockbusting. In the decades that followed, North and Northeast Park Hill became centers for Denver’s Black community.
According to city census data, the number of Black residents in both neighborhoods has decreased since 2000, as more white and Latino families have moved in.
Carey admitted that green gentrification concerns surfaced “a little bit” during the SOS campaign, but said that they weren’t a point of focus for the group. As for Park Hill’s history, she saw that as one of the developer’s talking points.
“The race card tried to be played by the developer a few times, but the fact of the matter is, there were people of every race, every ethnic group, on both sides,” Carey said. “Park Hill has a history of racial tensions and segregation. That was not a part of this.”
Marchman disagreed.
“We are experiencing the disappearance of the Black population in Northeast Denver,” he said. “And when that begins to happen, you begin to lose the identity and the culture of the place. It makes it easier then for green gentrification, and it makes it easier to support a 155-acre park. That’s what it is. It’s not sophisticated, but it is real.”
Ultimately, 64% and 59% of Denverites voted to keep the easement in place in the 2021 and 2023 elections, respectively. With Westside sitting on 155 acres of what was now legally required to be either a golf course or a park, Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration struck a deal with the developer to exchange the park for a 144-acre undeveloped land parcel by Denver International Airport.
Ewing said each parcel was appraised at $12.5 million; however, he called the swap a “massive win” for the city, citing the park’s value to the community. He stated that the park’s status is essentially set in stone. However, in response to residents’ concerns about rising prices, he stated that the city intends to look at land surrounding the park as potential sites for affordable housing.
“The number one way to gentrify an area is to add a park,” Ewing said. “We have to make sure that we’re incredibly intentional and diligent in making sure that we’re looking for any and every opportunity to develop affordable housing, grocery stores, and other amenities to keep prices down in that community.”
The city has not yet identified any sites, but they are planning additional community engagement sessions to discuss this. Carey, for one, is looking forward to these opportunities.
“It’s going to be a transparent and open process for the citizens of Denver to decide what they want there, so (SOS) will have a seat at the table, but there will be a lot of other seats too,” she said, adding that SOS plans to lobby the city to allocate funding for the park from the Vibrant Denver Bond. “There’s an opportunity there for so much.”
The park is scheduled to open in the coming months. While Marchman was looking forward to it, he hoped the city would find a way to recognize the history.
“You’re talking about real people who fought to get in, and now they can’t stay in. That land is sincerely important to a lot of folks here, and there is a sense of loss,” Marchman said. “Let’s celebrate that we’re going to have a new park, but let’s also be mindful that every inch of property that the city sets aside should benefit everyone.”